“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”–Darwin      

The IPCC–Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change- is the global consortium of the world’s climatologists organized under the umbrella of the United Nations.  These are the people we need to pay attention and listen to.  There are many people out there espousing views on climate change under the general label of “scientist”.  If you want to understand climate change you need to look to a climatologist-just like if you have a heart attack you see a cardiologist not a ophthalmologist.  Both are medical doctors but one has expertise in the medical science of the heart and one has expertise in eyes.  Just recently the IPCC pulled its estimate that the glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau will be gone by 2035.  They pulled that statement because the data had not been subjected to rigorous intellectual review.  It had not been “Peer Reviewed” as part of the process that the IPCC adheres to.  Skeptics, nay-sayers, and political purveyors of denialism have seized on this issue to attack the entire climate change debate because data was pulled and estimates retracted–for now…      

It doesn’t mean the data is wrong.  It means that the data did not fulfill the IPCC’s standard for being included in their reports.      

Just recently meteorologists were saying that the earth was showing signs of getting colder and many of the climate change skeptics used that as their banner to deny trend, attribution or impact.  Here is the problem with meteorologists espousing that data as proof there is no climate change:  meteorologists were looking at a 10 year trend;  the IPCC does not consider any data that is not AT LEAST 25 years in trend.  Still skeptical?  Well it turns out that from 1998-2008 that trend would have been correct BUT it’s because 2008 was a particularly warm El Nino year so the following years looked “colder” than the base year of 1998.  The 10 year trend data from 1999 to 2009 shows that the earth was indeed warming up and even more rapidly!  Why?  Because 1999 was a particularly cold year as a base year and the trend then showed a rapidly warming planet.      

Bottom Line: Don’t pay attention to 10 year trends…IPCC has been looking at data from the last 150 years and the last decade has been the warmest on record.  The data shows the long-term trend definitively.      

So when the IPCC pulls data and retracts estimates look at the reason why they did this.  They are a rigorous body of global climate scientists who are dispassionately looking at all the information and teasing out trends, attributions and impacts.  Unlike some climate change skeptics these scientists have NO political agenda or economic self interests to protect for themselves or their small group of shareholders.  The world is their shareholders and we owe them a debt of gratitude for the intelligence and passion for the truth that they bring to bear on this issue for our collective benefit.      

The breaking story now is that the IPCC Chairman Rajendra K. Pachauri [picture left] is being accused of economic interest in skewing climate change data…The nay-sayers allege that his payments from his consulting work are influencing his quest to have the facts fit the theory …well it turns out the payments he receives goes to Energy and Resources Institute where that nonprofit engages in projects like “Lighting a Billion Lives” which provides solar lanterns to poor people in India.   Dr. Pachauri does indeed receive a salary from the Energy and Resources Institute–all $49,000 a year according to income tax returns.  Any reasonable person would dismiss such allegations of impropriety and can see that this is blatant character assassination of someone who is doing us all a great service.  Do people in places of great power and influence need to be transparent for all to see?  YES, these people wield and influence great power in our lives and their credibility is the Keystone in our listening to them, believing them and taking collective actions as a result of our faith and trust in their integrity.      

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York has a Chief Executive of JPMorgan/Chase on their Board.  Is that a conflict of interest?  Maybe, but this person is well schooled and wise in the ways of the free market and adds value to the board for their insight, experience, and wisdom.  As long as it’s a transparent relationship and we can see for ourselves that this person is not reaping personal and unjust enrichment from this position I’m grateful for that person being on the board.  Thank you for your service!  I imagine this executive makes a LOT more than $49,000 a year… not to mention the bonuses.       

What I find most upsetting is the character assassination that some people engage in when they disagree with or are still ignorant on an issue.  When I look at the most vocal and mean-spirited of them I find they have a political and/or economic agenda to protect or push down the throats of others.  We need international statesmanship and not provincial politicians out to “get their’s” at the expense of everyone else.   We are dealing with an enormously critical issue to all life on this planet…we are all in the same boat…we need to adapt.      

Here’s a good article on this controversy from the Times of India.  As a country downstream from the Tibetan Plateau and with so much of their freshwater dependent upon the seasonal runoff from the Plateau’s glaciers India is paying very close attention to these issues…more so than the rest of us, “One slip does not change the Big Picture”:      

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/special-report/One-slip-does-not-change-the-big-picture/articleshow/5518665.cms      

The New York Times has also just ran a story on this issue to help you wade through the fluff, spin, hype of the nay-sayers who would rather strike up the band on the deck of the Titanic and distract you instead of helping to solve the problem:      

      

U.N. Climate Panel and Chief Face Credibility Siege, By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL, Published: February 9, 2010      

Rajendra K. Pachauri and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change face accusations of scientific sloppiness and potential financial conflicts of interest.       

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/09/science/earth/09climate.html

If a picture is worth a thousand words then watch the photographic evidence of deglaciation in the Tibetan Plateau.  Early adventurers to Mt. Everest photographically documented the Third Goddess and her glaciers, specifically the Main, East and West Rongbuk glaciers.  In recent years technology has allowed photos from space to document what is happening on the Yarlung and Helong glaciers around the Plateau.   This documentary is from the Asia Society and their “On Thinner Ice” project has documented the deglaciation of the Tibetan Plateau.  They also interview the local herdsmen and farmers whose knowledge, learned and passed down from countless generations of those who have lived and died in the shadows of the great mountains, is a treasure trove of traditional knowledge.      

      

Here is a second video that David Breashears did for the society:      

      

After viewing these videos I recommend you explore their other videos at:  http://asiasociety.org/onthinnerice      

Lastly, I believe in God and I believe in Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theory.  It’s not an either/or paradigm as some would have us believe.  Having gone to religious schools, with religion classes all the way through High School, I do believe that God helps those who help themselves.  If your faith, no matter what faith that is-even if it is not part of any organized religion, is strong then resist those who would hold us back from doing our duty to be good stewards of our planet.      

So, with a last note of humor, put on your Rapture Helmets if you choose but lend a hand in helping to solve our planet’s problems as well because the Rapture isn’t a public policy option and it’s not going to get us out of this mess…      

      

[courtesy of Stephen Colbert...http://www.colbertnation.com/home ]

“The Ganga, especially, is the river of India, beloved of her people, round which are intertwined her memories, her hopes and fears, her songs of triumph, her victories and her defeats. She has been a symbol of India’s age-long culture and civilization, ever changing, ever flowing, and yet ever the same Ganga.”

- Jawaharlal Nehru, First Prime Minister of India, born in Allahabad on the Ganges

[A Holy Man prays in the Ganges River during Magh Mela Photo: AP]

The Ganges River story is a challenge to tell in a brief format that distills the major issues for people to appreciate and link to their own lives half a world away.  The complexity of the issues around the River Ganges, or Ganga Ma [Mother Ganges], sheds light on the complexity of our own desires, needs, and flaws as a human race.

It is a compelling story and a difficult story because it exposes truths that are sometimes hard to admit.  The problems we face are problems we have created for ourselves in our collective behaviors.  The problems are easy to deflect personal responsibility for since our individual actions are merely straws in a large hay pile.  But a huge complicated hay pile it has become and we are to blame.  We are responsible, individually and collectively, to correct the problems.  While this story may be taking place on the other side of the planet it holds universal lessons for all of us.

Let’s begin with the spiritual face that Man has put on the river:   Throughout the ages, the Ganges has played a dramatic part in the spiritual lives of the Indian people. It is said that to know the Ganges is to know India and her people. The river is strong, proud, and overbearing; she is also humble, peaceful, and stern; she is always changing yet ever the same.  The Ganges is worshiped as a mother goddess, gangadevi, and her celestial water is believed to possess supernatural power. Mother Ganges is many things to many people. She is the provider for the millions who reside in the agricultural communities along her banks; she is the bestower of benedictions for the pious, and the redeemer of sins for the sinful; she is the healer of disease for the sick; and for the dying, she is the giver of liberation from the cycle of birth and death.  The devout deeply believe in the powers of the Ganges water. It is said that if one bathes in the Ganges or even sprinkles three drops of Ganges water on his head, he becomes freed from past sins (karma). The ganges is believed to have such purging effects on the impurities of the soul that if one even remembers the name of the Ganges, he acquires such merit that he easily attains a place in heaven. [courtesy of www.gosai.com]

Mother Ganga, in the intricate and complex belief system of Hinduism, is the essence of purity.  To drink her waters is to heal, to bathe in her waters is to wash away the sins, to have your body cremated and ashes scattered in her waters is to ensure your place in heaven.  The waters are holy and revered…and humans and those that love the river are making her ill.  That which we love we often hurt in our ignorance.  Perhaps it is our fall from God’s Grace… a central theme in all the worlds religions that our sins are our imperfection and our challenge to redeem ourselves in God’s eyes.  It is the same for the River Ganges, in loving the river Man has made the river ill.

Physically, the Ganges River begins high in the Tibetan plateau and winds its way 2,500 Kilometers [about 1,500 miles] to the Indian Ocean in the Bay of Bengal.  The river flows through China, India, Nepal and Bangladesh.  The Ganges river basin [~1million square kilometers~] is both one of the most fertile places on earth and also one of its most populated with over 400 million people dependent upon the river as a lifeline.

[courtesy of wikimedia]

Along its journey water is diverted for irrigation of crops and as a consequence water levels in the river have dropped to make the river unnavigable to cities and towns that once supported river boat trade.  The river is used for discharge of industrial waste from factories, such as leather makers and pulp mills, and raw human sewage.

“Indian scavengers look for coins and other valuable items from among the offerings of devotees in the Ganges at Varanasi on April 5, 2009. More than 400 million people live along the Ganges River. An estimated 2,000,000 persons ritually bathe daily in the river, which is considered holy by Hindus. In the Hindu religion it is said to flow from the lotus feet of Vishnu (for Vaisnava devotees) or the hair of Shiva (for Saivites). While the Ganges may be considered holy, there are some problems associated with the ecology. It is filled with chemical wastes, sewage and even the remains of human and animal corpses which carry major health risks by either direct bathing in the water (e.g.: Bilharziasis infection), or by drinking (the Fecal-oral route).” AFP PHOTO/Prakash SINGH

Humans ritually bathe themselves in the waters adding to the pollution.  Fecal coliform [from human "poop"] measurements have been recorded as high as 67,000 times the safe level for humans. 

[copyright Thomas Cunzolo]

Families cremate the remains of their loved ones and then scatter the ashes into the waters to ensure entrance into heaven.  For those who cannot afford a proper cremation the river receives partially cremated human corpses…

There are those that are working hard now to clean up the Ganges.  They seek to create and enforce more stringent pollution laws for industries as well as for cities and towns that discharge raw and untreated sewage into the river.  With 400 million people dependent upon her waters and a population that is second only to China in size it is imperative the Ganges River be cleaned up.  This is no longer a matter of a few pilgrims, farmers, factory owners, or local people who use the water.  We humans are killing the Goddess…and now we’re facing diminished seasonal water from the Tibetan Plateau as a result of shrinking glaciers from climate change.

The Ganges is precariously positioned to become a concentrated stream of poison to all life dependent upon her.  The Ganges is far beyond the point that “the solution to pollution is dilution”.  In fact, the earth as a whole is beyond that paradigm when we have a population explosion of almost 7 billion people…

The Ganges River is iconic not just for its spiritual inspiration for India and her people but because the River is a focal point of human needs.  It is our need for spirituality and meaning in our lives, the reality of growing food to eat, the creation of goods for our daily life, and the need for clean water for health, hydration and hygiene.    The river, and the life dependent upon her, faces diminishing freshwater runoff from glaciers, competing withdrawal of the water for agricultural and industrial use, human contamination of the water as a communal bathtub, graveyard, and worshipping site.  While the Ganges is being made ill by the people that flock to her shores, all of us have a hand in strangling the waters that flow into the river in the first place.  What will happen when the waters begin to dry up?  Or China diverts the water for its population? Or Bangladesh suffers from the Ganges being reduced to a toxic stream no longer able to support the Bangladesh economy or its people? 

I leave you with an excellent video documentary from Tyson Sadler on the Ganges.  Be forewarned that there are scenes that may be disturbing to some viewers.  I’ve gone back and forth about using this video but in the end it is the truth of the situation.  See for your own eyes…

…and say a prayer for the Ganges…

“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gift from the fairies, he [she] needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him [her] the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in”–Rachel CarsonFrom the book, Maine Lakes with photography by Christopher Barnes.

This book can be purchased from the Maine Lakes Conservancy Institute and 100% of the proceeds goes to support their children’s water education programs.  They’re a hands-on field based experiential education nonprofit organization and they do good work creating “better stewards for today and leaders for tomorrow”.

Check them out at:  http://www.mlci.org or call them at 1-207-495-2222.  Tell them Fresh[water] Ideas for a Thirsty Planet sent you! 

UPDATE:  The good people at Maine Lakes Conservancy are making the coffee table book available to Fresh[water] Ideas for a Thirsty Planet at a special webprice.  The list price for this beautiful coffee table book is $40.00.  If you call or email them and tell them I sent you they will sell the book for $20.00 to you.  All proceeds benefit their children’s lake science education programs.  You may have to pay shipping costs [ask them], maybe they’ll throw that in as well!

 

Right now I am working on a post on the Holy Ganges River and I keep coming back and watching this video by the Asia Society.  Their work on the waters of the Tibetan Plateau is excellent.  So while I research and write away enjoy this in the meantime.  This is an introductory video featuring David Breashers with disappearing glaciers, the people of the Plateau, and the consequences that are already being felt from climate change. 

Clicking on the image will take you to the Asia Society’s website where you can watch the video.  It is very impressive.

 

While I lived in Alaska last winter I had the good fortune to meet and befriend some wonderful people who were politically active in Alaska–and last year was a BIG ONE for Alaska with the “Thrilla from Wasilla”.  Among my new friends was the 2008 Political Blogger of the Year, known as “Mudflats” [www.themudflats.net], and the ever so witty, funny and on-the-go Shannyn Moore who has her own blog [www.shannynmoore.wordpress.com], radio show and now TV show as well as frequent commentator on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC “Countdown” [phew]. 

Some of their friends have become my friends and there is one particular person who Mudflat’s introduced me to.  FLYINUREYE is probably one of the most creative graphic artists I have ever known.   His  imagery that I have seen is usually political and can be funny, irreverent, or satirical or all of the above.  I am in awe of his creativity and ability to visually sum up the issues of the day.  His work often graces the Blog of Mudflats and to see his work  always makes my day.

Fly knows I’ve been actively involved in invasive species and freshwater issues.  He also knows I’m a James Bond fan and the latest James Bond movie, The Quantum of Solace was about Bond fighting “the Bad Guys” who were trying to take over a country’s freshwater resources ["more precious than oil']…

So to start off your week I present Alaska’s own FLYINUREYE  who ginned this up for me as a break from some more serious visual imagery work he is doing right now.

The hoped-for sequel to the last Bond movie: 

The Quantum of Condensation

[cue the Bond music]

You’re the man Fly.  Thank you!  Stay tuned for some more imagery from Flyinureye as Fresh[water] Ideas for a Thirsty Planet looks at some emerging international water conflicts…

Fresh[water] Ideas for a Thirsty Planet got behind schedule last week with my regular postings.  I was in Washington, DC presenting at the National Invasive Species Awareness Week conference on global freshwater issues, invasive species and the “green economy”…we’ll visit that issue in the near future but needless to say the introduction of an invasive species in an ecosystem causes serious negative impacts on freshwater resources. 

But for now back to the “Roof of the World” and the Tibetan Plateau series…

Most of the legendary rivers of Asia begin with a snowflake at the roof of the world.  The snows of the Himalayas, Karakoram, Kunlun, Altyn-Tagh, and Gobi mountain ranges have created vast glaciers whose runoff begins the long journey of freshwater to the pacific and Indian oceans.  Since recorded time the seasonal rhythms of receiving snow and giving of melt water has held life in balance for all who live “downstream”.  Over 40% of the world’s population is sustained by these waters…for now.  But we have a developing problem–the demand for water because of population growth and pollution of existing water supplies is overdrawing current supplies.  To make things worse,  the “supply” itself is running out of water to give.

 The map…shows six of the worlds largest rivers draining from the Plateau: the Indus (Gar) drains the southwest, the Bramaputra (Yarlung Tsangpo) drains the southern and southeastern area, the Salween (Nu), Mekong (Lancang) and Yangtze (Jinsha) drain the central and eastern areas, and Yellow (Huang) drains the northeastern area. The northern and northwestern areas have no external drainage and are characterized by many large lakes. The plateau is occupied by about four million Tibetans who raise yaks and sheep on tundra above the timberline, but over half of the worlds population lives in the drainage basins of these six rivers. There are numerous fault bounded ranges within the Plateau, many of which have peaks over 20,000′. Like the rivers, in the western and central plateau they trend east-west, slowly changing to a northerly trend towards the eastern edge of the Plateau near the Qinghai-Sichuan border. [courtesy of shangri-la-river-expeditions.com]

An organization who is monitoring these issues on the Tibetan Plateau is the Center on US-China Relations at the Asia Society headquartered in New York City. 

In 2006 the late American philanthropist Arthur Ross founded the Center at the Asia Society. In the words of Arthur Ross, “At this particular point in history, it is critical that a Center be created to deal with one of the most important developments in the world today, the rise of China. It is my intention that the Center will study and promote this relationship on multiple levels and perspectives.”

The Center has a number of initiatives including:

• The Initiative for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate
• China Green
• The Glacial Research Imaging Project
• The China Boom Project

The video documentation of the deglaciation of the Tibetan plateau and water supply for the major rivers whose source is in the plateau is wonderful.  Their presentation of the information, which includes interviews with herdsmen, brings together traditional knowledge and scientific rigor/process. 

One thing I have learned in my life is to pay attention to “traditional knowledge”…it is born of countless generations reaching back before recorded time when survival meant being close to the rhythms and flow of the natural environment.  Today many have lost that connection but it still lives on in our farmers, fishermen and herdsmen who live close to the land and who by economic necessity know the wisdom of ancient knowledge. 

Below is a video from the Center…I plan on posting more of their work as it’s the most informative information for a wide-ranging global audience I’ve found in my research.  Though the Center was founded by an American Philanthropist and the information presented seems as fact based and non-biased as I can find, I am wary of any possible influence the Chinese Government may have on the Center. If anyone has information on this matter I would appreciate you emailing me.  With that reservation said here’s “Origins of Rivers: Omens of a Crisis”.

“As the source of most of the major river systems in Asia from China to Pakistan, including the Yellow, the Yangtze, the Mekong, the Salween, the Brahmaputra, the Ganges and the Indus, the Tibetan Plateau has become an epicenter of crisis. With the retreating of its glaciers – what glaciologist Lonnie Thompson has called the “fresh water bank account” of Asia – rivers and lakes have started running lower, pastures have become drier, deserts larger, weather patterns more unpredictable. Indeed, the whole ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau and its hinterland are now slipping toward a catastrophic environmental disaster which will have continental implications far beyond the plateau itself.”

“All is born of water, all is sustained by water”–Goethe

It’s called the “roof of the world”…

Created by the collision of the Indian and Asian tectonic plates the Tibetan Plateau has been pushed upwards over six miles high to create the highest lands and mountains in the world.  It’s size is about 2.5 million square kilometers, almost twice the size of Alaska — about four times the size of Texas or France with an average elevation over 4,500 meters.  It is one of the, if not the, most remote regions on the earth. 

It’s snows and glaciers are the third largest reservoir of freshwater on the planet.  It is probably the most important reservoir of freshwater on Earth as over 40% of the world’s population relies upon freshwater meltoff of the glaciers and snows from this storied remote land. 

Rivers such as the Ganges, Brahmaputra, Mekong, Yangtze [Chang Jiang], Yellow [Huang He], and Indus rivers all have their birthplace in the Tibetan plateau.  It has been called the “Third Pole” for its altitude and the snows and glaciers it holds.

Greenland and Antarctica may hold more freshwater, but no other area of the world holds freshwater for so many people…The problem is that the glaciers are retreating rapidly and changes in the hydrologic cycle are not replenishing the frozen freshwater at a rate that will sustain the people, animals and ecosystems that depend on those waters.

Over the next few weeks Fresh[water] ideas for a thirsty planet will be looking at the Tibetan Plateau and the rivers and people those waters sustain.  While it may seem a bit exotic and esoteric to be considering such a far away and remote place I offer what I had earlier posted on the disappearing islands of the South Pacific with a quote from Laurens van der Post, “..this story is like the wind.  It comes from a far off place but we feel it here.”

These issues will place over 40% of the world’s population under severe hardship with diminishing freshwater from the glacial sources high at the roof of the word.  Those hardships and risks have a way of playing out on the international arena as people strive to survive.

To start off this series we’ll begin AT the roof of the world….Mt.Everest

At 8,850 meters or 29,035 feet above sea level Mt. Everest is THE roof of the world.  The Tibetan name for Mt. Everest is “Quomolangma”  which means “The Third Goddess”.  There are many variations on the mythology of the third goddess-here is one I particularly like: ” During ancient times there was a sea in the region. Then a group of Devils came and destroyed every life. One day, the wind brought 5 colorful clouds that arrived from the Heavens. The clouds were 5 Goddesses. They fought with the Devils and locked the Devils under the snowy mountains. People prayed for the Goddesses to stay and protect them and the Earth. The Goddesses agreed. They made the forests, the grasslands, the farm fields and the beautiful flowers. Then they turned into 5 high Peaks. The Third Goddess was the tallest and bravest one and she became Quomolongma or what we call Mt. Everest.”  It is the mountain of legends, a holy mountain to the people who live there, a birthplace of waters, and a siren call for adventurers…

Here is an excellent video that incorporates local views and insights

Keep in mind from my previous posts that these waters are worth more than oil…no water, no civility, no civilization.

I admire the Dalai Lama…I’m not a follower but I admire and respect any spiritual leader who seeks to bring out the best in mankind from every person.  So I have followed the politics of Tibet over the years looking to tease out what is really going on other than the exiling of a spiritual leader. 

If you dig down deep enough one finds that all conflicts have their root in natural resource allocation with layers of human emotion and passion to fuel the fire.  Often times what a war’s stated purpose and cause isn’t really what it is all about.  As it turns out Tibet is no exception.

If you read an earlier Sunday Serenity regarding the latest James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, you know the movie was about the “Bad Guys” wanting to control something more precious than oil–freshwater.  This same issue is being played out on the Tibetan Plateau…water for China; the most populated country in the world with 25% of its land mass classified as arid.  In their drive to be a, if not THE, dominate force in the global economy their environment has and is suffering.  Remember the Olympic games and Beijing’s smog problems?  Well they have freshwater pollution and water quality issues as well.  That’s one of the problems with centralized economic planning–environmental and human health costs are not “internalized” into the production of goods–all that matters to the “Masters” who plan the economy is output.

Where is China going to get freshwater for its people, agriculture, industry and power generation?  One only needs to look uphill–to the Tibetan Plateau.  The world’s third largest reservoir of freshwater on the planet.  So read this article and keep it in mind as you read the rest of the series.  It is the story behind the story.  Motivations, actions, and consequences can all be tied back to this issue of freshwater resource allocation and conflict.

Here is an excellent article about what is really being played out: http://www.sramanamitra.com/2009/08/23/geopolitics-of-the-tibetan-plateau-2/

By Guest Author Rohit P. Singh

When one of the deadliest clashes in the region’s history occurred between Chinese police and Tibetan protestors in March 2008, experts averred that the cause of the violence was China’s long-standing strategy to open Tibet’s vast reserves of copper, iron, zinc, and other minerals. But it turns out that China wants to gain control over a much more vital resource: Tibet’s vast supply of freshwater. In Asia, the availability of water has become a key issue that could determine whether the region is characterized by cooperation or interstate and international conflict in the years to come.

Undoubtedly, China holds the key to the above question as it controls the Tibetan plateau. The plateau is home to enormous glaciers and the world’s greatest river systems. These rivers act as a ridge-rope for the world’s two most populous countries, China and India, and also to Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), Bhutan, Nepal, Cambodia, Pakistan, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, which combined are home to 47 percent of the global population.

However, recent studies have corroborated serious environmental threats to Tibet’s freshwater reserves, largely due to deforestation, mining, manufacturing and other industrial activities. According to a 2007 report by IPCC, glaciers in the region are melting at a rate faster than anywhere else in the world. This decline in the freshwater content has raised concerns in both the scientific and diplomatic communities. Tibet’s water resources have become an increasingly important strategic political and cultural element that the Chinese are intent on managing and controlling.

In the recent past, concerns about interstate conflict have arisen from China’s attempts to dam or redirect the southward flow of river waters from the Tibetan plateau, where several major rivers originate, including the Indus, the Mekong, the Yangtze, the Yellow, the Salween, the Brahmaputra, the Karnali and the Sutlej. China is among the driest nations on earth with more than one-fourth of its land classified as desert. Rivers there are either too polluted or too filled with silt to provide all of the country’s 1.3 billion people with adequate supplies of freshwater. In its attempts to solve its water crisis, China has become a potentially dangerous nation to its neighbors. After building two dams upstream, China now has plans to divert the fast-flowing Brahmaputra northward to feed the arid areas of its heartland, and to build three more dams on the Mekong, which has amplified rages in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. In sum, as China has exhausted its own resources, it is now threatening the ecological viability of nations in South and Southeast Asia.

The countries that would be most gravely affected by China’s plans are India and Bangladesh. China seems to be intent on pursuing its water projects, and the idea of a great “south-north water transfer” project that diverts river waters descending from the Tibetan highlands has been backed by President Hu Jintao. Under the “south-north water transfer” project, water will first be drawn from the Jinsha, Yalong and Dadu rivers, on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau, by building 300 kilometers of tunnels and channels. In the second phase, water will be directed northward from the Shuomatan Point, or the “Great Bend”, which is found just before the water enters India and from whence it is known as the Brahmaputra. This second phase will begin when any water shortage becomes acute in China, and could provoke a water war with India and Bangladesh as these countries try to protect their riparian regions.

A shortage of water in the Ganges has already affected the lives of millions of people in Bangladesh and has driven them to illegally migrate to India. This migration has resulted in a marked demographic change in India’s Northeastern states (especially Assam) and has been the cause of several social and cultural conflicts in the region. If Bangladesh faces a shortage of water in the Brahmaputra due to China’s upstream diversion plans, this migration will likely increase to dangerous levels and threaten the lives of thousands in Assam and other states.

So we see that water is becoming a highly political issue in South Asia. Managing water resources in Tibet is a challenge for China as well as for all the other countries affected by it. The total number of people who would be affected, if China succeeds with its projects, is around 1.7 billion. It is only through dialogue that these people will be able to decide how to make the best use of Tibet’s resources and avoid a war over water.

My next posts on this series will be more specific about deglaciation on the plateau and issues to the rivers…read those posts with all of this in the back of your mind.  This is a transnational boundary and geopolitical hotspot and this will escalate in conflict.  People are going to die as a result of conflict escalation unless we address these issues. 

no water…no civility…no humanity…no civilization

It is the birthplace of some of the worlds greatest rivers.  These rivers begin their journey at the roof of the world delivering millions of gallons of fresh clean water to the people and places downstream and empty into oceans thousands of miles away.  They are Holy rivers…The Ganges, Brahmaputra, Yellow, Yangtze, Indus, and the Mekong…the source of much of the freshwater for 40% of the world’s population.  Waters that have nourished ancient and legendary civilizations…

So for this Sunday Serenity kick back and feast on the visual scenery of the Tibetan Plateau as a lead up to my new series…

HOPE-enhagen

In the past the United States has sadly and lamentably abdicated its global leadership role when it has come to the issue of climate change.   It wasn’t pretty.  We refused to participate in some meetings and we sometimes sat on the sidelines and snipped at the proceedings.  Hopefully we learned something from those times because the rest of the world made progress in those meetings when we weren’t there or playing the role of obstructionist. 

But a different wind now blows.  It’s the feeling of leadership by the United States once more.  In the words of President Obama:

“The time for talk is over”

Quoting from the New York Times article:  In speaking to the plenary session, Mr. Obama stressed the urgency of reaching a climate accord, no matter how “imperfect” it might have to be.  “We are running short on time,” he warned. “And at this point, the question is whether we will move forward together, or split apart. Whether we prefer posturing to action. “We can again choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years,” He said. But he added that this course would leave leaders “back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year, perhaps decade after decade—all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.”

The United States, Mr. Obama said, is “ready to get this done today.”

Whoa…anyone who has followed this for the last decade or so knows this is a game changer…and WOW…leadership.

Here is a link to an article in the News York Times today: 

[picture NY Times]

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/science/earth/19climate.html

also this MSNBC link to a video story from the Today Show: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/34476710#34476710

Now its China’s turn to play the role of the obstructionist as they fear transparency in verifying their promises.  It’s all about protectionism…protecting inefficient industrial systems while the future money is in the green economy where nations conserve their resources because it is economically efficient . The environment and the economy are inextricably intertwined.  When we are energy efficient, waste is minimized, costs go down.  Yes, it takes retooling but  it is the future and history is replete with examples [e.g. spanish leather makers, Marshal Plan retooling of Japan and Germany].

Much remains to be played out both in Copenhagen and here in the United States but not since Theodore Roosevelt have we had a President who is willing to play a bold leadership role when it comes to the environment AND the economy.

 

HOPE-enhagen is playing out as a game changer….stay tuned to Fresh[water] ideas for a thirsty planet as we’ll be traveling to one of the remotest areas of the world to see the downstream ripple effects of deglaciation on almost half of the world’s population.  Skeptical of climate change still?  We’ll let the photographic evidence speak for itself…it all kicks off with Sunday Serenity “mood setting”  followed by the first part of a series featuring a Goddess at the roof of the world.